Ancient Quest
by Lord Nyax
Summary: The story of a mercenary band, not unlike the Greil Mercenaries, turns into the quest for the root of all magic. Where did Dark magic come from & why is it not in Path of Radiance? You're about to find out!
1. Chapter 1: Departure

**Ancient Quest**

Chapter 1: Departure

In the middle of a forest in southern Crimea, a small mercenary fort lay burning. The mercenary leader, Andrew, was fighting off a small band of Daein soldiers south of the fort in the woods.

He dodged a lance thrust to his head and parried with a slash with his brilliant gold and silver bladed sword. He had cut down all of the soldiers but a berserker and a hero. They came at him at once.

"Where's your sense of honor?" he called out to the advancing enemies. He jumped to dodge an axe chop from the berserker and stabbed him in mid-air. He fell to the ground as the hero advanced at him more cautiously so as not to be cut down as fast as his comrade. Just then, Andrew sheathed his sword and sent a devastating blast of wind magic at his foe that crushed him like an insect.

At this point Andrew realized how far he had strayed from the base. He ran back but stopped dead when he saw how many Daein soldiers there still were. There had to be at least fifty enemy troops! He ducked behind a fallen log for cover as he watched his fort being burned to the ground and what survived of his force being led away in chains.

As soon as there were only a few stragglers (mostly looters) left near the fort, he jumped down and killed all the remaining allies of Daein. Then he began to search the burned base for survivors.

After searching for about a half hour, he found an injured archer, whose name he remembered to be Arthur. He went to him and helped him out of the still-burning base.

"Are you all right?" asked Andrew.

"I'll be fine. What happened to the rest of the company?" answered Arthur weakly.

"They were either killed or captured. I can't find anyone else left." Andrew said glumly.

"Then we must find them and rescue them!" Arthur said, jumping up. "We have no time to lose! If we hurry, we can still follow their trail." He began to run off.

"Whoa, there," said Andrew, sweeping him back with his wind magic, "we can't take on much of an army with just two people, even if one of them just happens to be me. We have to do this subtly or not at all. I personally prefer the first." He got up. "Follow me." He began to move away from the burned-out fort.

"They will know there are survivors when the thieves who lagged behind don't return. We have to stay hidden and off the road until the return party pass us. Then we can make all speed to follow the troops," Andrew explained.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Arthur said. "Let's go!"

"This is going to be a long trip…"


	2. Chapter 2: Towards the Fort

Chapter 2: Towards the Fort

"Get down!" Andrew whispered to Arthur. "Someone is coming down the road. It may be the Daein search party."

The two mercenaries were hidden a few yards from the road in a thicket. When Andrew looked up, he saw a small group of soldiers coming their way. He ducked back down. He turned back to Arthur, and he was pulling an arrow out of his quiver and was about to fit it into his bow.

Andrew reached over and took the arrow from his over-eager partner and shook his head. The Daein group passed without noticing them. Once they where out of earshot, Arthur spoke up.

"Why did you stop me? We could have taken them."

"Yes, but if we had, then the main group would just have to send another group and we would have to continue to hide."

"I suppose…" Arthur said. They continued to walk down the road, watching for anywhere the main group may have split off. After another mile or so, they spotted a small path leading off into a small wooded area.

"This looks promising," Andrew said. "It looks like a good number of horses and heavily armored soldiers passed here not too long ago. We must proceed with caution."

The two turned onto the path. It wasn't long before they spotted a Daein guard. Just as they saw him, they slipped off the path and into the trees. Andrew signaled for Arthur to shoot the guard. He drew an arrow and fired it with perfect accuracy.

"Nice shot," Andrew whispered. They continued through the wood for only a minute or two when they came across a short cliff. They looked down and saw a small fort, no bigger than their own.

"This place is very well guarded," Andrew stated, "we should try to find a way in without attracting too much attention."

"We could kill a few of the guards and steal their armor," Arthur suggested, "then we could just impersonate guards to get in without any notice."

"Good plan. Let's get that guard from the path." They headed out to where Arthur had shot the guard. They took off his armor and Andrew put it on. "I'll go and get you some armor from another guard." He headed out.

When he got back to the fort via the main path, there was a guard walking around the perimeter of the fort. He began to follow at a considerable distance. Once there was just about no chance of being seen, he snuck up on the guard and stabbed him. He pulled the body out into the woods and took the armor back to Arthur. Once he got it on, they headed towards the main gate.


	3. Chapter 3: Liberation

Chapter 3: Liberation

As the mercenaries entered the enemy fort, they realized that they didn't know where the prisoners were being held.

"What are we going to do?" Arthur asked. "We can't rescue them if we can't find them."

"Just follow my lead and don't say a word," Andrew responded in an undertone. They began to wander the halls of the relatively small fort. When they found a guard, they went over to them.

"Excuse me, but we may need your assistance," Andrew called out to the guard.

"And who are you exactly?" the guard responded.

"We're new recruits. We were just assigned to guard the new prisoners from the last raid on Crimean-hired mercenaries. The problem is that, well, how do I put this? We, um…"

"Let me guess," the guard said in a disgruntled tone, "you don't know where the cells are and didn't ask because you didn't want to lose your jobs so soon. Again."

"Yea, that's just about right," Andrew said. "So, can you tell us where they're being held?"

"Alright, fine, but I'm going to have a word with the Boss about hiring such _idiots_. You just go down this hall, take the second right, then the first door on the left is the stairs to the prisons. You got all that, sellsword?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, and I do," Andrew said stingingly. "Let's go and leave this…_guard_ to his _very_ important work. Nimrod."

They walked down the hall and when they got to the stairs, they stopped to plan what to do next.

"Smooth talking back there, Sir!" Arthur commented.

"Yea, well, let's just say I've got a knack for fooling imbeciles and leave it at that. Anyway, I've got an idea as to how we're going to pull this off."

"Let's hear it then!"

"Well, it involves you being psychotic, which you shouldn't have much of a problem with," Andrew joked. "But really, here's what you're going to do…" He leaned in and told Arthur his plan. As he did, the archer's eyes widened.

"Got all that?" Andrew asked when he had finished.

"I suppose," Arthur said. They continued down the stairs in silence.

When they arrived at the bottom, they opened the door and walked into the holding area. It was a huge room with many cells lining the walls and sporadically placed around the center. Just then they saw three guards walking near them.

"You there!" Andrew yelled out to the guards. "Our turn for the guard. The Boss just sent us down." He began to move forward, but Arthur lagged behind a bit.

"We're not supposed to change for another hour," one guard snapped.

"The Boss sent us. That's all I know," Andrew retaliated.

"What are you doing?" another guard shouted.

"What are you talking about?" Andrew asked.

"No one move or you get an arrow through your head," Arthur's voice called out from behind him. Andrew turned around in an instant. Arthur was standing at the door with an arrow strung in his bow.

"Nice try, but there's only one of you and three of us!" the first guard said. "There's no way you can hit us all before we get to you."

"I beg to differ," Andrew interrupted. "That guy is the best archer I've ever seen. He can fire three arrows a second; he can't be beat."

"That's right," Arthur said, "now put your hands where I can see them." Everyone complied. "Good, now you"(he pointed to Andrew) "take a step back."

"What? Why?" Andrew responded. Arthur pulled his bow a little tighter. "Alright, alright!"

Once Andrew complied, Arthur blinked his left eye, then right. Andrew lunged back and blasted two of the three guards into the wall with his wind magic, drew his sword, and ran over to the two guards, now pressed against the wall. Arthur aimed his bow, fired two arrows in rapid sequence, and the final guard was pinned to the wall be his own punctured armor.

"Good work, Arthur," Andrew said. "Now tie these two up while I find a way to free the prisoners."


	4. Chapter 4: Escape

Chapter 4: Escape!

"Can any of you use fire magic?" Andrew called out to the prisoners.

"Sure I can," said a voice behind him. He turned around and saw a cloaked figure in a cell in the corner. "Why, do you have a tome or something?"

"Yes actually, I do," Andrew said as he walked over the mysterious man. "And I want you to use it."

"I would," the man responded, "but how will that help us get out of here?"

"Simple," he began, "use fire magic to burn the locks off of the cell doors."

"I can't say that I've ever done that before," the mage responded, "but I'll give it a shot."

Andrew handed him the scroll through the bars. He took it and, raising his hand towards the lock, blasted it open. He then went to each other cell in turn and opened the other doors in the same way. Once all of the prisoners were out, Andrew went out in front of them and began to ask questions.

"Who here cannot wield a weapon, magic, or staff?" to which no one raised their hand. "Good. Split into three groups: mages on my left, melee fighters in the middle, and healers on my right. Archers will go with the fighters." Once they complied, he continued, "Now, if anyone needs a horse to fight, please step forward." One archer and two people who looked like sword-wielders stepped forward.

"Good. If that's everything, then lets move out!" Andrew ordered. "Our first stop will be the armory, which is up these stairs, down the hall, up another flight of stairs, and around a corner. The door will most likely be locked. Which brings me to my next point: can anyone here pick a lock?"

"I can," a person in the back with the melee fighters said, "but not without a knife."

"Well then," Andrew responded, "here you go." He tossed a dagger in its sheath to the mysterious thief.

"After we get our weapons from the armory," Andrew continued, "we just have to get out. From the armory, we need to go back down the stairs we came up, and out. There will almost certainly be resistance from the guards, but nothing that we can't handle with these numbers. Is everyone clear?"

A chorus of "yes" responses followed. Andrew instructed anyone who could to take one of the guards' weapons. With this small group of armed warriors, they climbed the stairs leading out of the dungeon, followed by those left unarmed.

When they got to the top of the stairs, Andrew unsheathed his sword and instructed the others to do likewise. He raised three fingers into the air, and dropped them one at a time. When he got down to a fist, he opened his hand, pointed it to the door, and blew it off its hinges. He sprung out and slew the two guards standing on either side of the door.

The whole company sprinted out into the hall and quickly got to the stairs that led towards the armory. Once up, Arthur got an arrow onto his bowstring to shoot the guard that was running at them with his lance raised, but the guard was taken down by a burst of fire from behind Andrew and Arthur. Andrew turned his head to see who had burned him down and saw the mysterious mage who had opened the cells running out of the doorway with his arm raised. He nodded to the man and ran to the corner.

Arthur reached around the corner with two arrows in his bow, ready to fire, but there was no one there.

"This is a trap," Andrew said suspiciously.

"It may well be, but we're not doing anything about it by just standing here," said the thief, who had just appeared behind him.

"What do you suggest then?" Andrew asked.

"Spring the trap." With that, he shoved Andrew around the corner and shouted after, "Keep your sword up!"

Andrew stood where he was in the seemingly vacant hallway, completely on guard. To his surprise, the hall really was empty. He signaled that it was safe to the rest of the armed warriors. They stepped cautiously out around the corner. Nothing happened.

"You see?" said the thief. "Everything's fine!"

With that, they moved on to the armory and the thief picked the lock. He opened the door and was greeted with a spear point pressed against his throat.

"Sorry to bother you, but do you know where the mess hall is?" he said casually to the soldier holding the spear. As he said this, he brought his dagger up, moving the lance to the side before the soldier had a chance to skewer him. He brought his blade around and stabbed him.

"Impressive," Andrew called back, as he had already jumped passed and had gotten to cutting down the others in the armory. "What did you say your name was?"

"I didn't," he called across the room, "but it's Mathew, if you need to know."

Andrew distributed weapons, magic tomes, and staves as needed throughout his new informal army. Once everyone was armed, they headed out towards the exit.

They got down the stairway with no trouble, and were turning the last corner that led to the exit when they encountered two rows of armored warriors blocking their way.

"Halt!" a halberdier that appeared to be the leader called out. The company stopped and began to draw their weapons.

"Wait," Andrew said calmly to his army. "I'll handle this." He turned to the enemy commander and said, "You there! How about you and I fight. If I win, you let us pass on to wherever we want to go."

"Fine," he responded, "but if you lose, you must all surrender. Do we have a deal?"

"We do," answered Andrew, "but I won't be losing. And one more thing; if our deal is broken, I will not hesitate to cut down every last one of you."

"Just try!" he said, readying his lance.

"James! My broadswords!" Andrew called, passing a hand over his shoulder. A man behind him handed him a sheathed broadsword, which he strapped to his back. He pulled the hilt from the sheath and the two swords separated, one into each hand. Each had a fierce-looking, crimson blade.

The enemy halberdier ran at him and stabbed to his head. Andrew smashed the lance down to the floor with his left sword and stepped up onto it. His adversary made to throw the end of his lance he still controlled into the air to throw Andrew off balance, but Andrew had already taken another step onto the shaft and jumped into the air with the aid of a blast of wind. He somersaulted in the air and brought both of his broadswords down with mighty force onto his adversary's head, cleaving through the helmet and stopping just above the scalp.

"I win," Andrew said, stepping around his terrified foe. "Now let's move on."

As he was walking off, he heard the quiet removal of a sword from its sheath. Andrew put a hand on the sword-hilt at his hip.

"Die!" someone yelled from behind, charging towards Andrew. He drew his sword and twisted around to block the blow coming down on his head.

"Not bad," Andrew said to the man attacking him, "but not good enough." He spun his adversary's blade away from him and began to attack.

The two masters of the blade fought, attacking and defending, for quite a long time. Everyone formed a ring around the combatants and watched the climactic clash.

"You aren't half bad," Andrew said. "How would you like to join the Shadows of Justice?"

"If you can defeat me," he said, "then I'll join you to learn." He then attacked with all his might.

It was over in a flash. When his opponent swung at Andrew's left side, he caught the blade on his, slid his sword down his adversary's blade and flipped the sword from his hand. Andrew brought the tip of his sword around and pointed it at his neck.

"I win," Andrew stated. "Let's go now." And with that, they left.


End file.
